How many times is “flesh” mentioned in John, Chapter 6? Jesus says the word “flesh” six times in John, Chapter 6.

Why do we believe that the Eucharist is Jesus? Jesus, the Son of God, said so, therefore we believe the Eucharist is Jesus. Blessed Dominic Barberi reminds us, “Jesus said over the elements, ‘This is my body.’ You say, ‘No, it is not His body.’ Whom am I to believe? I prefer to believe Jesus Christ.” [1] In the same way, Jesus said, “For my flesh is true food” (John 6:55). Some would say, “No, it is not flesh.” Who are we going to believe? We prefer to believe Jesus Christ.

Why do fundamentalists and evangelicals reject the plain, literal interpretation of John, Chapter 6? [2]Some deny the Sacraments because they imply a spiritual reality – grace – being conveyed by means of matter. This seems to them to be a violation of the divine plan. For many Protestants, matter is not to be used but to be overcome or avoided. This is in contradistinction to Catholic Church teaching. We read in the Catechism:

The flesh is the hinge of salvation. We believe in God the Creator of the flesh; we believe in the Word made flesh in order to redeem flesh; and we believe in the resurrection of flesh which is the fulfillment of both creation and the redemption of the flesh. [3]

Search: Is the body bad?

During the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, after the words of consecration, there is a change in the substance of the matter (bread and wine). The nature (substance) of the Bread and Wine is transformed into the Real Presence of Christ; only the species remain (appearance, smell), but the substance is changed so that no substance of the bread and wine remain after consecration (synthesis of Transubstantiation, according to Saint Thomas and the Council of Trent). Theodore of Mopsuestia says, “…he [Jesus] wanted us to look upon the [Eucharistic elements], after their reception of grace and the coming of the Holy Spirit, not according to their nature, but to receive them as they are, the body and blood of our Lord’ (Cathechetical Homilies 5:1).” [4] If the nature of the elements were just symbolic, they would not sustain the hunger of our human heart. We must feed on something that is not a symbol, but the real thing.

Is Jesus speaking literally or symbolically?How do we know for sure that Jesus was not speaking symbolically? One of the main proofs that Jesus is not speaking symbolically is that he does not correct himself when disciples turn away. In John 6:66 it says “As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.”

As a result of what? Because Jesus said that His flesh is real food and His blood is real drink and that, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you” (John 6:53).

People turned away and no longer followed Jesus. These were disciples who chose to no longer accompany him. Jesus does not call them back. He does not tell them to wait a minute or that they misunderstood. He was clear. They clearly understood, and they chose to deny the teaching saying, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” (John 6:60). Not only does He not call the disciples back, but he then turns to the Apostles, His closest followers and says, “Do you also want to leave?” (John 6:67).

Fundamentalist writers who comment on John 6 also assert that one can show that Christ was speaking only metaphorically by comparing verses like John 10:9 (I am the door)and John 15:1 (I am the true vine). The problem is that there is not a connection to John 6:35, “I am the bread of life.” “I am the door” and “I am the vine” make sense as metaphors because Christ is like a door – we go to heaven through him – and he is also like a vine – we get our spiritual sap through him. But Christ takes John 6:35 far beyond symbolism by saying, “For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood in drink indeed” (John 6:35). He continues: “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me” (John 6:57). The Greek word used for “eats” (trogon) is very blunt and has the sense of “chewing” or “gnawing.” This is not the language of metaphor. [5]

How do we “feed” on Jesus? Jesus says in the Gospel, “The one who feeds on me will have life” (John 6:57). We are only able to feed on Jesus because He became bread. It was not enough that God became man for man, but the God-Man, Jesus Christ, became food for man. A priest once gave the analogy of a girl and her dog. He asked a girl if she loved her dog. The girl said yes. The priest then asked her if she loved her dog so much, if she would be willing to become a dog for her dog. She said yes. Challenging her love, he then asked if she would be willing to become dog food for her dog.

God becomes “bread” for us first of all in the Incarnation of the Logos: The Word takes on flesh. The Logos becomes one of us and so comes down to our level, comes into the sphere of what is accessible to us. Yet a further step is still needed beyond even the Incarnation of the Word. Jesus names this step in the concluding words of his discourse: “His flesh is life ‘for’ the world” (Jn 6:51). Beyond the act of the Incarnation, this points to its intrinsic goal and ultimate realization: Jesus’ act of giving himself up to death and the mystery of the Cross. This is made even clearer in verse 53, where the Lord adds that he will give his blood to “drink.” These words are not only a manifest allusion to the Eucharist. Above all they point to what underlies the Eucharist: the sacrifice of Jesus, who sheds his blood for us, and in so doing steps out of himself, so to speak, pours himself out, and gives himself to us. [6]

ACTIVITY – The Ants This activity goes along with the analogy of the girl becoming a dog for her dog. Have one person volunteer to play the human. Depending on the size of the group you could have four or more people volunteer to play the ants. Make a circle with chairs or something else as a boundary. The person playing the human will be in the middle of the circle. Have the people playing the ants leave the room. Blindfold them and have them wait to enter the room. Now, using a total of four chairs, place two chairs somewhere in the circle; these will represent poison. Place the other two chairs somewhere else in the circle; these will represent candy or something that an ant would like.

Once the poison and candy are in place, let the ants back in the circle. If the ants hit or reach out and grab the poison, they die. If they reach the candy, they live. The person playing the human may only communicate through noises like clapping or snapping hands, or by blocking the ants’ path with their legs. The human may also let the ants use the sense of smell to lead the ants to the candy. An air freshener or something similar could be used to lead the ants by smell. The goal is for the human to guide the ants to the candy, only using communication that ants would understand. This is difficult because the ants are blind. We are blind and often do not understand when God speaks. The Incarnation is God communicating in our language and through our senses.

What does the word ‘Transubstantiation’ mean? First we can break down the word into “trans” and “substance.” “Trans” means to move from one thing to another, for example the words transport, transformer, transplant, translation, etc. Try to think of as many words that have “trans” as a prefix.

What is “substance”? Substance is what a thing is at its core; its essence. Everything has a “substance” and an “appearance.” Our “substance” is what makes us who or what we are; our appearance is what we look like to others. In the animal world, there are some insects that take on the appearance of a stick to protect themselves from being prey. They appear as a “stick” but in “substance” they are an insect. Many times humans appear through their attitudes, dress and activities, to be something or someone that they are not.

What is going on with the Eucharist? What is the substance and essence before consecration? What is the substance and essence after consecration? Before consecration, the Eucharist is bread and wine in appearance, and in substance it is bread and wine. After consecration, the substance changes (transubstantiation), and only the appearance of bread and wine remain.

Why do the appearance of bread and wine remain?Why don’t both substance and appearance change? Jesus knows that if the appearance were also to change it would be very difficult for us to receive the Eucharist. He wills to give us His Body under the appearances (taste, sight, touch) of common food and drink, bread and wine, physical food and drink that are common to all. If the appearance were to also change then we would taste, see and touch human flesh and blood, which could difficult to swallow.

ACTIVITY – Transubstantiation To demonstrate transubstantiation we can use an apple. What is the substance? Apple. What is the appearance? Round, red, etc. We can then cover the apple in aluminum foil. What is the substance? Apple. What is the appearance? Round, silver. In this demonstration, the appearance changes but the substance stays the same. If we take the foil off we can take a knife and cut the edges off to make the apple into a square. What is the appearance? White and square. What is the substance? Apple.

During the consecration, transubstantiation takes place at the hands of the Priest, who is in the person of Christ. This miracle takes place through the power of the Holy Spirit and the very words that Christ spoke at the last supper, “This is my Body, This is my Blood” (Matthew 26:26). In the apple demonstration, the substance stays the same and the appearance changes. As humans we can change the appearance of things and even ourselves, but we lack the power to change the substance of something, the very being of something.

With the Eastern Fathers before the sixth century, the favored expression was meta-ousiosis, “change of being”; the Latin tradition coined the word transubtiatio, “change of substance,” which was incorporated into the creed of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. [7]

We live in an age of makeovers, in which we can change appearances, but cannot change a person’s “being” or “substance.” Even in the perversion of a sex change, the appearance is drastically altered, but the “being” or “substance” remains the same. A man may change his appearance to appear as a woman, but in “being” and “substance” he is still a male. Only God has the power to change “being” and “substance.” He demonstrates this power in great love by taking the common gifts of bread and wine and changing their “substance” into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

This love is contained in the Eucharistic Prayers of the Mass. “Bless and approve our offering; make it acceptable to you, and offering in spirit and truth. Let it become for us the body and blood of Jesus Christ, your only Son, our Lord.” [8] “Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.” [9] “And so, Father, we bring you these gifts. We ask you to make them holy by the power of your Spirit, that they may become the body and blood of you Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose command we celebrate this Eucharist.” [10] “Father, may this Holy Spirit sanctify these offerings. Let them become the body and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord as we celebrate the great mystery which he left us as an everlasting covenant.” [11]

We therefore beseech Thee, O Lord, graciously to accept this oblation of our service, as also of Thy whole family; dispose our days in Thy peace, command us to be delivered from eternal damnation and to be numbered in the flock of Thine elect. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Which oblation do Thou, O God, vouchsafe in all things to make blessed, approved, ratified, reasonable, and acceptable, that it may become for us the Body and Blood of Thy most beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. [12]

What are the common elements of these prayers? How are we present in these prayers? How is the Holy Trinity present in these prayers? We are in all of these prayers as the people making the offering, giving the gifts to be sanctified. The Holy Trinity is present. We present the gifts and ask the Father to change these gifts. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that changes the gifts.

Into what/who are the gifts changed? They are changed into the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Our Lord Jesus Christ. During the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, there is a divine exchange. We give to God the simple fruits of the land, bread and wine, and more importantly we give God our body, blood, soul and humanity. God gives us the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, a sharing in divine life.

The Son of God is about to renew His supreme miracle, by the sole authority of His Word spoken through the Priest. Our Lord, by the same authority that once drew all of Creation out of nothing, will transform the substance of the bread into His own Body and the substance of the wine into His own Blood, leaving only the appearances of bread and wine upon the altar. The Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord will be fully present under the appearance of both the bread and the wine; the entire Trinity will also be present on the altar, since the Three Persons are present where One is present. [13]